Dying issues

[Pappy Hayes]

Here are a pair of holsters and belt I am finishing up. As you can see the dye is different even though it is the same color on all three pieces. Belt is probably a little different being cut from a different piece of leather but the holsters are from the same piece. I used  Medium Brown Gel antique on all pieces. I am thinking maybe I used more dye on the darker one and did not get it rubbed out enough and I dyed them at different times. I am thinking I should have dyed them at the same time maybe the color would have been closer. What suggestions do you have?

[Cliff Fendley]

If I want things to match I try to cut them out of the same side of leather as close as possible to one another and dye/stain at the same time. Even then you can sometimes get variation with certain stains.

Nice holsters by the way, that is a very good job on the carving. Is that cut with a swivel knife or done with a groover?

Have you put a top coat on them? maybe you can add some more gel to get the one darker if the variation is a problem.

Personally I wouldn't have a problem with them as they are. Kind of looks like a cowpoke had a new holster made like his old one, I like it. Just make like you did it that way on purpose 

[bedbugbilly]

Pappy - when you say "Gel" are you talking a water based dye?

I often use the Eco Flo water based dye from Tandy.  I always dye all pieces at the same time so it is applied pretty much the same way to all of the parts.  With what I'm using, I keep a spritz bottle of water handy - use a swab to coat the leather and then with a piece of old towel that is dampened, rub the dye out.  If not, here in AZ it will dry too fast and can be darker on one piece than another.  A nice thing about it though, is if a piece dries too fast, I can spritz it with water, let it set for a few seconds and rub it out until it's the shae I want utilizing the dampened piece of towel.

Great holsters by the way!  They look nice - nice work on them.  If it's water based dye - you might try a spritz bottle and see if you can rub them out to match.  One thing that I've found though - even from the same hide, it can take the dye different sometimes - the same way as two boards from the same tree can take stain differently.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you do and the results.

[Pappy Hayes]

Carving done all with swivel knife. I already put a sealer coat of super shene on both of them. I tried spritzing the darking one and rubbing it to see if I could lighten it up but did not work very well. Almost made it worst. I am going to leave them alone. Thank you for your comments and suggestions. When I am making a match pair of holsters the next time I will be dying them at the same time.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Those look good, Pappy. I like the natural variation in the color. They look more historically correct that way.